Reply to cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Hi,

My son has scored 123 in NNAT and 110 in COGAT. In submitting the referral, can we attach tuition center awards (KUMON)? Is this good? or will they take it in a negative way..as he needs tuitions to come up to this level?

Thanks [/quote]

Those scores are not great, so you're going to have to do some work to get a good application together.  I'm not saying that to be mean, but I've been posting on this thread a lot and have done a lot of investigating into the whole screening process, and my sense is that one those scores alone, your child will not get in.  My own child is only slightly higher than that on test scores and is not in the pool, and we are doing a referral.  I also have a 4th-grader in the Center, but she was in the screening pool, and the process is a little different if your child is not in the pool.

In a case where the scores are not strong, it is crucial to have strong support from the school.  I would make that my number one priority if I were you.  If the scores are weak AND the classroom teacher does not advocate for the child to be in the Center, you don't have a very good chance.

Yes, parents can put in awards, recommendations, and student work samples, but those are not given as much weight as other elements of the file.  With respect to work samples, one FCPS employee told me directly that they don't value them that much because they don't know if the child actually created them.  (Things like photos of some amazing Lego creation could have been done with a lot of assistance from the parents, and even things in the child's handwriting may not be original work that the child did on his own.)

I don't know what the certificates from Kumon say specifically or how they were earned, but if they're the kind of thing that every kid gets as they work through the program, I don't think they are of much value.  If your kid is in 2nd grade and is doing 6th grade math at Kumon, then maybe.  But if it's standard tutoring, I don't know that I would include it.  Also, the fact that they are "academic" is not necessarily a good thing.  Gifted kids often display intense, sustained interest in a particular topic, so if your child were really into something, whatever it is, and you had something to submit that demonstrated his 'unusual for his age' ability to delve into this interest, that would be more useful that certificates from a tutoring service.

Again, the evaluations from FCPS staff carry a lot of weight, and I would consult with your child's teacher and/or the GT specialist to see if they are supportive of your child being in the Center.  Ask them for an honest assessment of your child and whether you should do the referral.  That's what I did.

I was disappointed with my child's scores; I don't think they fully reflect his ability.  But we all think our kids are bright, don't we?  So I called both the GT specialist and the classroom teacher and asked each of them to tell me, honestly, if they thought my child belonged in the Center.  I told them I was not dead set on referring him and that I didn't want to do it if the Center was not what he needed.   However, they both said they were surprised by his scores, and the GT specialist told me I should definitely refer him.  The classroom teacher said he feels my son won't be challenged enough in the base school in 3rd grade and that he is one of the brightest students he's had.  If they had said something different, I don't know that I would be referring him.  There is nothing wrong with the base school.  Getting into the GT Center is not a badge of honor or like getting into a really great college.  It is a matter of putting your child in the environment that meets his/her academic needs.

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